[FEATURE]: Global settings should be always editable

[cmahnke]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

Currently application global settings are only viewable / editable when pressing next in the main window. Since the button is only clickable when all steps (OS selection, target drive selection) the settings aren't accessible at all when those steps haven't been completed. At least on MacOS...

Describe the solution you would like to see implemented

Add a settings button to the main screen.

Describe alternatives you've considered

Trying to locate the settings on disk: /Users/cmahnke/Library/Preferences/org.raspberrypi.Imager.plist

Additional context

This should be always accessible:

Version

1.9.6 (Default)

[tdewey-rpi]

Thanks for the report, @cmahnke

You've described what you would like to see, but not why. Editing these settings outside of the context of writing a new boot media is not immediately obviously useful - so I'd appreciate any extra detail.

[lurch]

There's also a "secret keypress" you can use "SHIFT + CTRL + X" to get the settings-window to appear.

[cmahnke]

I was under the impression lately that I might have already outgrown the target audience of the application. The forced linear workflow (which is even resetting the following selection steps when one changes a previous dropdown without a real technical need) indicate that the Imager is strictly tailored toward users, that use the toll only once a day. I personally prefer to do settings in the order they pop up in my mind...

I'm quite new (about a month or two) into the topic, so I don't know what other (more or less semi-professional) users prefer to use..

Anyhow, maybe this can be a starting point for some sort of pro mode (like an calculator app that has a scientific mode) or maybe this is intentionally out of scope...

[tdewey-rpi]

I was under the impression lately that I might have already outgrown the target audience of the application. The forced linear workflow (which is even resetting the following selection steps when one changes a previous dropdown without a real technical need) indicate that the Imager is strictly tailored toward users, that use the toll only once a day. I personally prefer to do settings in the order they pop up in my mind...

I'm quite new (about a month or two) into the topic, so I don't know what other (more or less semi-professional) users prefer to use..

Anyhow, maybe this can be a starting point for some sort of pro mode (like an calculator app that has a scientific mode) or maybe this is intentionally out of scope...

Indeed, I expect you have.

Imager is unashamedly designed for people who may be coming to Raspberry Pi devices for the first time - and for whom the concepts that enable the functionality of Imager may be unfamiliar. Imager aims to present the lowest impedance path to getting a bootable computer, assuming the least possible knowledge.

In terms of a 'Pro' mode, this request has appeared a few times, but in practice I have my hands full with a single application, and I can't see another application making that any easier to manage. Pull requests will be reviewed on the basis that they must not worsen the experience for new users.

[tdewey-rpi]

Closing as 'Won't fix', because as mentioned, a 'Pro' mode is out of scope.